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I think there is a difference between interviews by managers that don't program and those that do. Managers that don't program don't know how to evaluate a person technically so they use a variety of less direct determinations. My impression is that they are not the most useful indiaction but it is the only way they know.
I hope that bloggers would be evaluated based on the content, but that takes time and non-programmer managers would not be able to evaluate the content anyway.
This could be an opportunity for you; perhaps an immense opportunity to fulfill your goals. If you could help managers to be evaluate people, and be realistic about it for everyone concerned, then you could help managers accomplish what they need to do and help good people that could benefit from the appreciation.